A few year back, there was a Netflix documentary about flat earther. They’ve done a couple of experiment to prove that the earth is flat which (Spoiler alert) demonstrated that the earth is round.

So now that these persons have demonstrated scientifically that the earth is round. How are they doing ? Still flat-earther ? or did they give up with the amount of evidence they collected ?

  • lgmjon64@lemmy.world
    149·
    10 months ago

    I know a guy who was involved in some of those “experiments” and spent a considerable amount of time and money on them. He still is very adamant that it just proves that there is some other unknown confounding variable that just proves that the experiment was valid and that the designers of the flat earth already expected the experiments. It’s really depressing. I used to really respect him when I was younger.

  • edric@lemm.ee
    85·
    10 months ago

    Most probbably just doubled down and made excuses. The main takeaway of the documentary was a lot of those people are just lost/lonely and being part of that club gave them a sense of belonging to a group of similar people.

    • MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world
      25·
      10 months ago

      Yea I’m glad the documentary uncovered that. It really shows why someone would get into this despite it being pretty easy to prove otherwise (even inadvertently proving themselves wrong) they have this little community of friends.

    • Arcane_Trixster@lemm.ee
      151·
      10 months ago

      There was a short segment on 60 Minutes (maybe?) back in 2020 before the elections where they interviewed someone who had deprogrammed himself from Qanon.

      It was the same story. He had no friends IRL, no social support, he had turned his mom onto Qanon and she was still down the rabbit hole.

      He said that was the part that kept him in it for so long, even once he started questioning things. All his “friends” and close relations were part of the cult and he would have to cut ties with everyone or worse, they would turn on him and attack him as a traitor.

      It would be sad if these online-cults weren’t so damaging to society.

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
      132·
      10 months ago

      People like to feel like they’re in on some truth that most people aren’t aware of.

      • dustyData@lemmy.world
        123·
        10 months ago

        The sad part is that the less intelligent someone is, then the stronger is the need for that hidden truth. Highly educated and intelligent people are more comfortable with ignorance and need less that validation of having secret knowledge.

        • jandar_fett@lemmy.world
          51·
          10 months ago

          On the other side of that coin, it is much easier for someone with a high degree of intelligence and self awareness, to perform the necessary mental gymnastics to justify bullshit beliefs…

          • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

            It seems that a lot of the ‘hidden truths’ that the lower intelligence people seem to gravitate to were manufactured by this kind of intelligent bullshit artist. Sociopaths that realize they can control and manipulate gullible people and use them to their own benefit, like cult leaders and such.

  • seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org
    40·
    10 months ago

    Did you watch the movie? Because the experiments showed that the earth was round, they decided that there must have been something wrong with the experiments.

    • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      10 months ago

      Flat Earth Follower: “So what was the result of that laser gyroscope experiment we all gave you money for?”

      Flat Earth Leader: “Well it showed a 15 degree an hour rotation… So we think ‘heaven energies’ are affecting it.”

      Flat Earth Follower: Nods happily, knowing he doesn’t have to change his beliefs.

  • NoiseColor@startrek.website
    341·
    10 months ago

    Very important question! Did they do the mind acrobat tango and still believe it’s flat or did they just go to the next conspiracy theory?

    • ChrisLicht@lemm.eeEnglish
      81·
      10 months ago

      No idea, but the greatest predictor of whether someone will believe a conspiracy theory is if they already believe another conspiracy theory.

  • cpw@lemmy.ca
    271·
    10 months ago

    Going to suggest the folding ideas YouTube channel on the same topic.

    https://youtu.be/JTfhYyTuT44?si=m2b1gAkCOlDOnCle

    Spoiler: his hypothesis, well supported in my opinion, is that a large proportion of those formerly in flat earth are now neck deep in qanon, and since the film was made many are now into other conspiracy stuff. The election was fake etc.

    Also, his video of minnewanka lake is just perfect flat earth debunking.

    • aberrate_junior_beatnik@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      10 months ago

      The experiment he was involved in was the gyroscope one. The documentary showed what happened after his experiment “failed”: he decided the experiment was flawed and needed to be refined.

      The aftermath of the wood slats with holes experiment at the end wasn’t shown, but based on the rest of the documentary (and the history of people with conspiratorial beliefs) it’s almost certain they did the same.

      RIP to Bob, though. I hope his friends & family are coping well.

      • DontTreadOnBigfoot@lemmy.world
        121·
        10 months ago

        he decided the experiment was flawed and needed to be refined.

        Ah yes, the scientific method:

        • Make an observation or ask a question
        • Gather background information
        • Create a hypothesis
        • Create a prediction and perform a test
        • Analyze the results and draw a conclusion
        • Share the conclusion or decide what question to ask next Discard the experiment if it doesn’t support your preconceptions
      • kevin@programming.dev
        7·
        10 months ago

        You are correct, I had forgotten about the last experiment with the light shining across a distance. For some reason I thought that the gyroscope was the one that they ended on.

        Bob may have been confused about the shape of the Earth, but he was still a person with family and friends. A good thing to remember about all of these people.

  • yata@sh.itjust.works
    23·
    10 months ago

    There is not a lot to laugh about with flat earthers. The theory stems from Christian fundamentalism, and it is tightly connected to the christofascist movements trying to coup the USA at the moment.

    And no, they are not going to give up their beliefs, because they didn’t come by them through rational thought, so rational thought isn’t going to disprove it for them.

    • Zozano@aussie.zone
      6·
      10 months ago

      Just to piggyback off this for the uninitiated:

      If the Earth is round, then that means Earth is just like any other planet; one in a trillion.

      Flat Earthers are convinced “space” is an illusion, all the celestial bodies are there to trick us into feeling insignificant.

      If the Earth is flat, then we are special.

      Truth is: we aren’t, not in any cosmic sense.

  • octoperson@sh.itjust.works
    151·
    10 months ago

    It’s not specifically about those same individuals, but I want to mention Dan Olsen’s documentary In Search of a Flat Earth, which touches more on the ideology of the flat earth movement, and how it’s developed in recent years. No spoilers, peeps!

    • Aqarius@lemmy.world
      1·
      10 months ago

      It might asbwell be: when his experiment failed, he got told to “pray about it and try again”

  • cabbagee@sopuli.xyz
    5·
    10 months ago

    It’s been a while since I saw it, but I remember most people thought something was wrong with the experiment setup or equipment.